The use of clinical information to help develop new services in a districtgeneral hospital

This paper describes a case study of the use of clinical information to imp rove gastroenterological services in a district general hospital. The clini cal information has been derived from aggregation and analysis of operation al clinical data collected in coded, structured form on a clinical informat ion system over a period of 8 years. The monitoring of activity, referral p atterns and administrative and clinical outcomes, and the use of this infor mation to develop new services to improve access to patients are described. It is concluded that the secondary use of clinical information derived fro m electronically captured data can have a significant impact on the develop ment of services by a provider organisation, and on professional teamworkin g. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.